by Lisa Cassidy
For a few intense minutes Rothai and Dashan were neck deep in black-clad swordsmen. They fought bitterly, the number of Hunters slowly dwindling.
“We have to move!” Finn came running. “There’s a pack of them right behind us.”
Having heard Finn’s shout, Rothai and Dashan stepped forward to take the brunt of the attack while Finn shepherded Alyx through and Tarrick covered them. By the time they were clear, Dashan had killed the last Hunter and they were all free.
They sprinted. Hunters rounded the corner behind them, the lead warrior shouting as he caught sight of his quarry. Alyx’s heart pounded in her chest. Running hard, she almost overshot when Dashan took a sudden turn to the right.
“I can sense them around us,” he said quickly. “I’m trying to see a way clear, so we can get to the Leopards.”
“Something is wrong,” Finn muttered, glancing back. “We should have run into Leopards by now. At the very least they should have heard us fighting.”
Alyx agreed. It was on the tip of her tongue to stop, demand they think about what they were doing, but the Hunters were close on their heels, and there was no time for thinking.
Dashan led them a short distance down the hall, and then took another left turn. Alyx tugged on Tarrick’s sleeve. “Where are we?” she asked, panting. Her breath was beginning to burn in her lungs.
“We’re in the old servants’ wing,” he said. “It’s been boarded up for years. There’s nothing for the Leopards to guard down here, that’s why we haven’t seen any.”
Uneasiness crept through her at his words, but she couldn’t focus long enough to get a grip on why. She glanced back—the Hunters were closing the distance. At a quick count, there were more than ten of them. Not necessarily an insurmountable number, except for the fact Dashan could sense more of them all around. Stopping to fight them would only give the rest time to arrive.
“Here!” Dashan pushed through another set of open doors.
They ran through into a spacious chamber lit only by a few flickering wall sconces. There were windows set high up in the walls to their left and right—all barred—and no obvious exits.
Now what?
Chapter 8
“We need to hold those doors,” Finn called, seeing as quickly as Alyx that there was no obvious way out.
“The chest!” Rothai snapped, and he and Tarrick ran towards an ornamental wooden chest that sat against the wall. Alyx and Finn helped and together they heaved it up against the doors. Dashan prowled the room behind them, looking for an exit.
“Is there anything else that could help barricade?” Tarrick looked around.
“Nothing,” Finn said tightly.
“Where are we, Tarrick?” Alyx asked.
“One of the emperor’s old audience chambers. My brothers showed me through here once. See the raised dais down there, opposite the doors?”
“There’s another old chest over here!” Rothai called. “Help me move it.”
“Where are these cursed Leopards?” Dashan swore, wiping the blood from Kingsbrother on the carpet. His shoulders were rigid with tension and for the first time he looked worried. Alyx’s heart sank. While the others were concentrating on barricading the door, she went over and touched his shoulder. His eyes met hers, dark and opaque.
“How many beyond that door?” she asked.
His mouth tightened. “Too many for us to fight. Some are on the roof above us, but most of them are behind that door. They know we’re in here and more are coming. Shakar has sent an army.”
She swore in frustration. “How did he know I was here so quickly? Organising a well-planned assault like this takes time. And how have the Leopards not noticed?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to get you out of here, I promise. No matter what it takes.” His hand came up to touch her cheek.
His eyes were intense, too intense, and worry trumped her fear the others might see. She took his hand, entangling their fingers and stepping closer to him. “Dash, I—”
“Alyx?”
She spun. Finn’s voice was soft, his face stricken as he took in how close she was standing to Dashan, their joined hands. “What have you done?” he whispered.
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I’ve done nothing but—”
A large cracking sound reverberated through the hall, cutting off her words. An axe-head speared through one side of the wooden doors. Everything but the immediate threat forgotten, they backed away.
“It’s not going to take long for them to break though those doors.” Rothai was terse. “Minutes maybe.”
“Is there another way out?” Alyx asked. “Tarrick?”
Tarrick paced up and down. “I’m trying to think.”
Alyx considered her options. She could still summon her magic, but not use it over any distance. Hunters on the roof meant she couldn’t melt or destroy the bars on the windows, or even rely on her flying magic to get them out.
“There has to be another way out.” Dashan shook his head, his eyes closed as he frowned in concentration. “While we stand here, they’re congregating on the other side of that door. They know they’ve got us trapped in here.”
“They do!” Finn paled with sudden realisation. “Dash, they must have known you could sense them. They herded us in here.”
Alyx stared at the healer, fear slamming into her chest so fiercely she had to catch her breath. They were in trouble. Serious trouble. This attack had been well thought out and perfectly executed. And there were only five of them, four mages who couldn’t access their magic and a single Taliath.
“We shouldn’t have let you come here,” Rothai muttered, almost to himself. And even though she’d been thinking the same thing only minutes earlier, his words sparked the fear sweeping through her into bright hot anger.
“Damn you, Rothai!” she shouted. “You and the council and your stupid, idiotic fear of the Taliath. If I had more Taliath protection right now, we might have a chance of getting out. Instead I’m stuck with three protectors who can’t touch their magic.”
“Alyx, I—”
“No!” She cut over Finn. “This is what happened to the disappeared mages. The most powerful ones. The other mages of the higher order. Those who might have helped us actually stand a chance against Shakar. Instead they’re all gone because of a bunch of spineless old men afraid of losing their power.”
Rothai’s face hardened to stone, but he said nothing. Dashan spoke into the ensuing silence. “We’ll have to hope the door holds until one of the Leopards works out what’s going on. This many Hunters in the palace can’t stay hidden from them forever.”
“Even if they do, they’ll have to fight through the Hunters to get to us,” Rothai said.
“Wait.” Tarrick stopped pacing, hope brightening his face. “This is an old audience chamber. There is no way the Leopards would have allowed the emperor in here if there was only one way in and out. There has to be another exit, a secret one, in case he was ever attacked, so they could get him out quickly.”
“Good. Where would it be?” Dashan asked calmly.
“If there’s an exit, it will be near the back wall, where the dais is.” Tarrick spoke quickly.
As a group, they sprinted for the wall. Alyx ran her eyes over the sandstone brick, most of it covered by thick, dusty tapestries. Nothing jumped out to her that looked like a door or any other kind of exit. She tried to stifle the growing panic in her chest with little success. Her fingers trembled as they brushed the rough surface of the wall, her heart pounding, throat dry. It was suddenly difficult to swallow.
“Get these down,” Tarrick shouted, pulling at the tapestry nearest to him and sending a cloud of dust raining over them. “Start pushing against the bricks. Spread out. You’re looking for a brick that pushes inwards, or swivels, like a key.”
They lined up before the wall, frantically running their hands over the bricks, looking for one that would open a secret exit.
“Are you sure there
are too many to fight?” Finn asked as seconds passed without any luck. There was a note of helplessness in his voice that sent Alyx’s panic plunging into despair. She pushed it away, focused ruthlessly on the wall in front of her.
Dashan nodded tersely. “Too many even for me.”
A high-pitched screech sounded as the cabinet blocking the door was shoved forward an inch. The axe smashed through the door again, making them all jump. Alyx yanked at another tapestry, coughing when dust flew into her lungs. She ran her hands over the section of wall revealed, ignoring their shaking, inwardly pushing back her terror. The Hunters were only moments away from coming through the door.
She tried again and again to summon her magic, but the Hunters were too close and she couldn’t do it. A large grouping like this seemed to extend the range of the medallions they wore—making it effectively like a large bubble within which magic couldn’t exist.
The axe came through the door for a fifth time with a loud splintering sound. Soon the ragged opening would be large enough for the Hunters to push inside. Hands reached through the gap to push at the cabinet and it screeched forward another inch.
As she glanced away from the ever-widening crack in the door, she caught Dashan exchanging a look with Finn and Tarrick. Tarrick nodded, and a nameless dread opened in the pit of her stomach.
“What?” she snapped.
“Nothing.” Dashan turned back to the wall. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Keep looking. We’ll find it.”
She opened her mouth to demand they tell her what that look meant, but Rothai spoke before she could. “Are you sure it exists, Tarrick?” he asked, frustration filling his voice.
“No,” the mage snapped. “But if it doesn’t, we’re all going to die here.”
“I think I’ve got it!” Finn shouted suddenly.
Another axe-strike slammed into the door. It split the wood even further, and then hands appeared to tear the splintered wood away from the ever-widening hole.
“Finn!” Alyx shouted. “They’re coming through!”
“It’s stuck,” he called back. “Give me a second.”
Alyx tensed, anticipation making her hands sweaty. The first Hunter appeared, shouldering his way through the crack and making it wider. Her eyes flickered between Finn, working desperately to turn the swivel brick he’d found, and the Hunters pushing through the gap in the broken doors. Tarrick joined Finn, lending his strength to the effort.
Another Hunter came through the gap, then another. Then, with a screeching, groaning sound, they moved the chest away from the door and kicked the shattered remnants of the door open.
“Nearly there,” Finn said.
“Cover the Magor-lier!” Rothai cried out.
Dashan was suddenly at her side, leaning down to kiss her forehead, a hand coming up to cradle her cheek. “Love you, mage-girl,” he murmured.
And then he was moving, too quickly for her to reach out and stop him. He ran, bloodied sword raised, to meet the Hunters just past the door, slamming into the wave of black-clad warriors with a shout of anger.
“Got it!” Finn’s shout of triumph was almost swallowed up by the ring of clashing blades sweeping through the room. Alyx’s gaze was fixed on Dashan, worry and fear flooding her, as he single-handedly kept the Hunters from progressing further into the chamber. Tarrick grabbed her arm, shouting something in her ear. She tore her eyes away as a door in the brick wall slid sideways, revealing a dim hallway leading upwards.
“Go!” she shouted, gripping her staff with the intention of going to help Dashan get clear. But Tarrick didn’t let go of her arm, his strength yanking her sharply backwards.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, trying to shake him off. He wouldn’t budge. There was an expression on his face she’d never seen before. A resolute intentness that terrified her.
“Dash is giving us time to get out. Your safety is our priority,” he said, then began to tug her towards the tunnel. With stunned horror, she abruptly realised what the look she’d seen between him and Dashan had meant.
“No!” She shoved him as hard as she could. “Let go of me!”
The force of her movement dislodged his grip on her, but before she could even take a step, another pair of arms grabbed her, wrapping firmly around her middle. Rothai.
“Alyx, come on, please!” It was Finn from the exit, waving urgently at her.
But Dashan was still fighting, the Hunters trying desperately to get past him but so far failing. Kingsbrother slashed down over and over again but there were too many. Dashan would be swamped any moment.
“Rothai, let go of me!” she demanded.
Instead of obeying, he began dragging her towards Finn. Shock at what he was doing froze her utterly. And then her gaze fell on Dashan. A Hunter slipped around him, and he had to lean out too far to engage him—another Hunter snuck in on his other side, his sword opening up a bloody gash along Dashan’s left arm. Alyx began to fight then, kicking and struggling with everything she had.
But it did no good. Tarrick joined Rothai and their combined grip on Alyx was immovable, no matter how fiercely she fought them. “Tarrick, let go!” she screamed, throwing herself to the side and attempting to dislodge their grip. “That’s an order. LET GO OF ME!”
“I’m sorry,” he grunted, not letting up.
“You can’t just leave Dash behind to die,” she yelled. “What are you doing?”
“He’s holding them off, giving us time to get out,” Finn shouted, eyes wild. “If we don’t go now, they’ll get ahead of us and surround us again. Please, Alyx, just come with us.”
“Tarrick, get off me!” Alyx struggled as fiercely as she knew how. Desperation swamped her, overtaking any rational thought. She had to get free.
“I’m sorry,” Tarrick insisted. Sweat poured down his face with the effort of holding her.
Alyx found herself inexorably dragged up the corridor towards a moonlit garden. No matter how desperately she fought, the distance between her and Dashan increased, inch by inch. Dashan was gradually swallowed up by the Hunters, moving like a true Taliath despite several bleeding wounds, keeping them with him, preventing them from breaking away to follow her.
Alyx dug deep for her magic. It was there but she couldn’t grab it. Again and again she tried. Desperation made her wild, uncontrolled, but she still couldn’t find it.
“LET GO OF ME!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, beginning to panic as the realisation sunk in that she wasn’t going to be able to break free. Dashan. She had to get to him. Had to help him.
“No,” Rothai said, his voice as iron-hard as his grip on her.
The audience chamber grew further away. Dashan appeared for a second out of the throng of Hunters surrounding him. Blood dripped down his side from a slash across his ribs, and he was sweating freely. He saw Alyx and their eyes met for a brief second. Unbelievably, he gave her his rakish grin, full of warmth and life, then gestured for her to go.
“Dashan, NO!” She fought with renewed vigour, but to no avail. Why wasn’t he coming after them? He should be breaking free, following.
They had dragged her almost all the way along the corridor now, picking up speed as her strength started to fail. She almost dislocated an arm in her frenzied attempts to get free. She didn’t care if she hurt herself, she just knew she had to reach Dashan before…
“No. Please no!” she begged as loudly as she could, but they kept dragging her away. “DASHAN!!”
Before her horrified eyes, Shakar’s assassins began to overwhelm Dashan. One of the wall sconces had tipped over in the fighting and several of the fallen tapestries were alight. Smoke swirled through the room, giving the fight an eerie, hazy glow.
One of the Hunters hit Dashan hard across the back of his head. Dashan stumbled and fell to his knees. In an instant, they were swarming all over him.
“DASHAN!” She lost sight of him as Tarrick and Rothai successfully managed to drag her out into the garden outside, Finn leading th
e way. Her eyes fixated on the entrance to the corridor where smoke now billowed.
A second later her magic returned with a vengeance—they’d broken through the bubble.
All her grief and fear exploded out of her; she let loose with a panicked surge of magic, tearing Rothai and Tarrick off. They hit the ground hard a few meters away, rolling several paces with the force of their fall.
Breath sobbing in her chest, Alyx ran back towards the chamber, dodging Finn as he reached out to try and stop her. She was two steps away from the entrance when a concussion burst slammed into the sandstone inches ahead of her. The force of the blast sent her flying backwards. She was frenzied, not thinking quickly enough to use her flying magic, and she landed hard, the breath whooshing from her lungs.
“They brought mages!”
Alyx thought the voice was Rothai’s and vaguely registered what he was saying, but all her thoughts were consumed with getting to Dashan. He had to be all right, he had to be; she could still save him. Staggering to her knees, lungs burning, she was almost felled again as more concussion blasts exploded around the garden.
A quick glance backwards showed Rothai and Tarrick battling with two mages, trying to get back to her, and then there were more concussion bursts coming at her. She raised her shield and they bounced harmlessly off it. Frustration seared through her—she needed to get back inside!
Fury and panic coalesced in a white-hot surge of emotion that brought with it a tide of hungry magic—raising her staff, she flung it all outwards. Concussion power exploded through the garden, forcing everyone, mage or Hunter, flat to the ground. For a moment after the concussive boom of her blast faded, there was utter silence.
Into that silence rang the palace alarm bells.
Shouts followed. Leopards came running from every direction. Turning, almost falling, Alyx ran back for the audience chamber, only to be immediately enveloped by flame and smoke.